The following comment on Letter Type L, or variations thereof, was submitted by
4 individuals or entities on S7-19-03.

Letter Type L:

Dear Secretary Katz:

As an individual investor, I am writing regarding the proposed rule
on shareholder proxy access and the ability of investors to better
nominate candidates for corporate borads. I urge the SEC to support
greater democracy in the corporate elections process.

I am concerned, however, with what I've seen in the proposed rule,
and strongly believe the rule must go much further to provide
investors with strengthened rights regarding the nomination process.
Some of my concerns are:

1) The "triggers" included in the proposal create significant
barriers for the shareholders to earn the right to place qualified
candidates on the ballot. Even having direct access to the proxy
without barriers seems a modest proposal. Because of the enormous
effort and money required for a successful board nomination and
election, few investors would use their rights to nominate unless
they felt a Board and corporate executives were grossly mismanaging
a corporation.

2) The process takes two years, which is too long for companies that
suffer from intrtactable boards or those that have significant
problems like national scandal, significant restatements of earnings,
severe conflicts of interests, etc.

3) The ratio of shareholder nominated directors allowed is
disproportionate and unfair. The shareholders can nominate only one
director for boards of less and two for boards of nine to nineteen
members. Since 50% of US companies have 8 or less members on their
board and the other 50% have nine to nineteen members, shareholder
nominated directors would likely be ineffective in any attempt to
change the status quo.

Until corporate governance is strengthened to make directors more
accountable to shareholders, we will continue having trouble regaining
investors' confidence in amrkets and corporate management. Allowing
the owners of companies to have an actual say in the membership of
the corporate board is one of the best ways toward making board
directors more accountable to long term investors. Thank you for the
opportunity to offer my strong support for this proposal. I
encourage the Commission to adopt final rules that are responsive to
my concerns.